Stimulus Is as Stimulus Does,
Mama Used to Say

By

George Melloan

Updated Oct. 30, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

The movie "Forrest Gump" was about a slow-witted young man whose mother's epigrams guided him through the minefields of the 1960s. Mother Gump armed her son against ridicule with the response, "Stupid is as stupid does." Forrest reaped honors and acclaim, all the while wondering how it all happened.

The U.S. Congress could perhaps use a little mother wit as it debates what it euphemistically calls an "economic stimulus" package. The principle that seems to be missing in the debate is that a...